A collection of thoughts
and photos of my life and
work in the northern
Great Plains of
North America
(and occasionally other
places in the world).

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Arizona Weekend - Rufous-capped Warbler

Last weekend I took an opportunistic weekend of birding while I was in Arizona. I visited my friend Mark in Sierra Vista and he accompanied me on a weekend jaunt around southeastern Arizona. In addition to seeing a pile of birds I hadn't seen for a long time, I was interested in finding a few species I had not observed before.One of the species that rose to the top of the list was a Rufous-capped Warbler that had recently been observed in Florida Wash. This is a bird that is very localized in the U.S., barely coming across the border from Mexico where it is more common. We had some discussions about directions to head on Saturday morning but after visiting a bit we decided to head to Florida Wash with a stop at the Patagonia Rest Area to see if we could also find a Black-chinned Sparrow along the way. We were running late by that point so we didn't think to look for any further directions to the warbler.After a quick stop to find the sparrow (which we did), we headed off to Florida Wash, an area that Mark had not visited either. We found the parking lot at the research station ok, and headed up the main trail according to the directions from the list serve as we remembered them. We found another group of 3 people also looking for the warbler, but they actually had written directions. After consulting with them we confirmed our recollection that the bird had been found around the base of a lone Sycamore tree just past the dam. As we headed up the stream there were a number of small dams across the stream and a lone Sycamore. But no warbler. There were other markers right at the lone Sycamore that were conspicuously absent in the directions, like a large water tank, making us suspect that maybe there was another lone Sycamore further up the trail. After a moderate hike up some switchbacks it became very apparent that we were way beyond anyplace that looked remotely suspicious of being warbler habitat. We headed back down the trial and returned to the last Sycamore to try there again. No luck.As we got down to the junction with the other drainage coming in from the right only a short distance above the parking area. Mark did a little exploring and suggested we head up the right fork. After a short jaunt we realized rather quickly that it was where we should have gone in the first place. There was the dam, the lone Sycamore, and a rather extensive patch of desert cotton (Gossypium thurberi) that appeared to have responded quite well to a fairly recent fire in that area. Perhaps most telling was the rather large lens and three humans perched on a rock overlooking the area. Apparently we just missed the bird by a half an hour. We hung around for a while but never found the bird.I returned early on Monday morning on my was back to Phoenix and this time, armed with my past experience to find the place, was at the right spot fairly quickly after parking the car. And the bird showed up in the company of a few Ruby-crowned Kinglets shortly after I arrived. I was able to get a couple of other birders who showed up after me on the bird as well. They soon left and I spent the next 20 minutes or so watching the bird as it foraged through the cotton downstream. It was very unconcerned by my presence and foraged remarkable close to me.

These were the best photos of the bunch. Most of them looked like this:

I want to thank Mark and Jackie for their hospitality and letting me spend the weekend with them.